


An Extinguishing Hope

by ConstantlyTiredReader



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horrortale (Undertale), Angst, Canonical Character Death, Especially considering how things usually are in this AU, Events occur before Aliza falls, Frisk mentioned, Gen, Grillby mentioned, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Body Horror, Nothing intense or graphic, One Shot, Skateboard Girl is named Skatie, Skateboard Girl mentioned, mentioned starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 18:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16561112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstantlyTiredReader/pseuds/ConstantlyTiredReader
Summary: Fuku waits for her best friend Skatie to get to their favourite get-together spot. They discovered it by accident one day when they were still in stripes and instantly adored the privacy they had there. Since then, the puzzle room on the west end of Hotland has been their place to hang and skip out on classes together.Of course, school had been cancelled for a long time now.





	An Extinguishing Hope

Fuku waits for her best friend Skatie to get to their favourite get-together spot. They discovered it by accident one day when they were still in stripes and instantly adored the privacy they had there. Since then, the puzzle room on the west end of Hotland has been their place to hang and skip out on classes together.

Of course, school had been cancelled for a long time now.

It all started when the Human arrived. When Fuku first met them, she didn’t even realise that they were a human. They were just someone who showed up right before the blue laser that had been trapping them for hours was finally deactivated. Although she didn’t mention it at the time, she was pretty sure that they were somehow involved with it, so the young elemental was pretty grateful. Sure, Fuku and Skatie still stayed there afterwards, loitering in peace, but it was still nice to have the choice to leave if they wanted.

Skatie was the first out of them to learn that the person that they met was a human. Seemingly out of nowhere, she had gotten Undernet notifications about Mettaton’s newest live show. Together, they tuned halfway into the episode and the truth was revealed. They couldn’t believe at the time; how were they so lucky to meet a human, the last one needed for their freedom? Fuku couldn’t wait to tell her family and friends.

It was a day she knew she would never forget.

Unfortunately, that time of excitement quickly came to an end. Before the day was through, news about King Asgore’s death and the disappearance of the other human Souls had spread through the Underground. The queen, who had apparently placed herself in exile in the Ruins, returned, only to be overthrown. Undyne became queen, rallying the masses with the promise to make humanity pay for the suffering of monsterkind. Everything just kept going downhill from there.

Sometimes, Fuku wonders if she could have prevented this all from happening if she had attacked the Human before they left and ruined everything.

These days, everything is far too quiet. The streets are no longer filled with lively conversations or friendly bullet-pattern greetings. It was bad enough that so many monsters Fell after the king’s death. But ever since the shortages started, the Underground’s dwindling population has only become more obvious. Every day, another Undernet profile goes silent.  ~~Dust is eternally present in the air, a suffocating reminder of those that are gone.~~ Monsters become more and more reclusive, trying to save what little magical energy they still have. Fuku’s dad says that they are just delaying the inevitable. Even though she would like to say she has enough hope to claim he’s wrong, as each day passes, the more she agrees with him.

As fire elementals, the food and magic shortages have been really hard on Fuku and the remaining members of her family. With her young age, one might say she is lucky; her Soul is strong, so it can better withstand her flames. On the other hand, that also means living in agony longer as the emerald fire, no longer supported by ambient magic, consumes her from the inside out. She can’t even imagine what it would be like living outside of Hotland at this rate. From what little she’s heard, the farther away from the CORE you are, the less environmental magic there is. Add that to the lack of food, and survival becomes even harder of a struggle.

~~Maybe that’s why she hasn’t heard from her uncle in Snowdin in so long.~~

Sitting down with her back against the wall, Fuku takes a quick glance at her phone. Skatie was supposed to get here almost half an hour ago. A spark of anxiety rushes through her. What if today is the day she doesn’t show up? Fuku knows that her bestie has been struggling through a lack of rations, given the large size of her family. What if today is the day that Skatie joins the stray piles of dust -

NO!

Fuku refuses to think like that. She has to have hope that things will get better, that Queen Undyne will be able to collect enough human Souls so that monsters can return to the Surface. Without hope, there’s nothing else for her to live for.

So, Fuku waits.

  
  


 

 

 

 

 

**But nobody came.**

**Author's Note:**

> So, this fic is specifically inspired by the 39th comic in Sour-Apple-Studio's Horrortale comics, which can be found here: https://www.deviantart.com/sour-apple-studios/art/Horrortale-Comic-39-Nightmare-Flames-Warning-702840007
> 
> Just as a warning, this particular one is kind of graphic and depicts some dead humans, so view at your own discretion. 
> 
> Horrortale is probably my favourite Undertale AU, as well as the first one I ever found, mostly because of the fact that Sour Apple created a scenario that I could actually see happening after Frisk's journey ends. It's also refreshing to think about what would occur in the Underground after a neutral ending, especially since Toby created so many of them.
> 
> [My Tumblr!](https://constantly-tired-reader.tumblr.com/)


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